Balachandran V's "Sancho" follows a day in the life of a man and his dog. In the morning, the speaker leaves for office while Sancho slinks away with his head bowed and tail low, then circles and settles in his spot. The speaker can't read the dog's expression, yet senses his sorrow and can't bring himself to meet his eyes. By evening the mood flips. Sancho waits at the gate, straining for a glimpse, and then bursts into barks, howls and leaps the moment it opens.
The speaker feels deep tenderness and a little guilt. He admits his words are "so inadequate" next to the dog's open joy, but hugging and kissing Sancho says it well enough: "He knows." The ending turns quieter and darker. The speaker wonders about the vast emptiness that will come when one of them has to leave the other forever. The warmth of the poem is shadowed by the knowledge that such love is not permanent.